Felipe Massa will have to wait to know if the High Court of London will grant him his £64 million claim against Formula 1, its governing body FIA, and former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, for covering up the "staged" crashed in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix that resulted in Felipe Massa losing the 2008 World Championship to Lewis Hamilton, also known as the "crashgate".
Massa, 44, has always complained that Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed on purpose to bring out a safety car, something that helped teammate Fernando Alonso win the race, starting from 15th place. Massa, who was leading the race, finished 13th in Singapore and missed on valuable points that could have helped him win the World Championship later. He eventually lost the driver's championship to Hamilton by one point.
In 2023, Ecclestone, no longer F1 boss, suggested in an interview that the Formula 1 executive were aware that Piquet crashed on purpose (something he admitted in 2009) but decided to cover-up to protect the sport from the scandal.
Massa now claims that he is the rightful winner of the 2008 Grand Prix and seeks a £64 million, €73 million compensation, while Ecclestone's lawyers argue that the claim comes too late and that "it's a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 Drivers' Championship", with Hamilton being the rightful winner. On Friday, after three days of hearing, the High Court of London said that "judgment will be reserved to be handed down at a future date."